X The Doctor's Broken Rule Book X ,,OLD STORY,,
by xLaramiex
Summary: So much cheese, and in an amateur style of writing.##9and10/Rose fluff. The Doctor finds a list of rules he made a long time ago. What were they, and did he follow them? Some sad, happy, funny, etc.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, an idea I originally had for a completely different fandom (Pellinor) but I couldn't think of any rules, and then I thought I could do it for Dr Who! :D**

**Most chapters will be ludicrously short, but at least they'll be quick XD**

**RULE ONE**

The Doctor was bored. Very bored. So bored, he was _tidying up _one of the TARDIS' many cupboards. And he hated tidying. It was too…_domestic._ But Donna was asleep, and the Doctor had nothing to do, so here he was, tidying.

Pulling out a small notebook, he opened it to reveal a list with 10 points, written in his own writing. As he looked at it, a faint memory came back to him; about a week after his regeneration into his ninth body, he had written a list of rules for himself. His memory didn't stretch to what the rules had been, so he read the first with curiosity.

_1) Never absorb all the energy of the Time Vortex._

_Yes, well, that worked, didn't it? _the Doctor thought, rolling his eyes and remembering.

_He was lying on the floor, watching Rose step out from his TARDIS. Perhaps step was the wrong word - materialise maybe. Anyway._

_How had she got back? He had sent the TARDIS back to Rose's home, London, 21__st__ century. He'd told the TARDIS not to bring her back._

_What on earth had she done?_

_As the truth was revealed, the Doctor grew more and more afraid for her. He could not leave her to die._

"_Come here," he said. With one kiss, he separated Rose from the energy she had absorbed, took it into himself. He absorbed the energy of the Time Vortex, just as he said he shouldn't. He broke Rule One. For Rose._

Whaddaya think? Please review and tell me! If you do, you get a cookie in the shape of the TARDIS.


	2. Chapter 2

**RULE TWO**

"Let's look at Rule Two…" the Doctor murmured to himself.

_2) Never let a companion's mum on the TARDIS._

"No, companion's mums are _domestic_. Don't get much more domestic than mums. Plus they have an annoying habit of not trusting me to look after their son or daughter. I mean, as if I'm going to let them die! No, I definitely shouldn't let mums on the TARDIS."

And then a memory struck him.

_He was flying the TARDIS, following the signal to where the ghosts had come from. He was talking to Rose…He was going to make this old ship land accurately for once, that would impress her._

_He was still talking, about "alons-y" and - "You're staring at me." She was staring at him…What was she thinking? She was very close…if only he had the courage to -_

"_My mum's still on board."_

_Oh dear._

_That was Rule Two down the drain. But it wasn't his fault. He was talking to Rose. She distracted him…_

"Hmmm…Well that was definitely a mum…It wasn't so bad though," the Doctor conceded. "At least it protected Rose…for a while, at least."

The Doctor sighed. _Wish Rose was here,_ he thought sadly. She slept no less than Donna, but it was more fun when she was around. Sometimes he even felt the desire simply to sit with her and talk…and that was very strange for him. Whenever this urge came over him, it unnerved him so much he would land immediately, somewhere particularly busy.

What was the next rule…


	3. Chapter 3

**RULE THREE**

_3) Don't tell anyone too much about yourself. It hurts._

_I told Rose lots…She knew everything. I told her who I am, what I am, what I did, what happened to everyone. I told her about Gallifrey. The only thing I didn't tell her was my name…and I _can't _say that._

Had anyone been there to see, they would have thought that his eyes looked a little moist.

_And it _did_ hurt. I knew it would hurt, and I told her anyway. _He'd have felt like he was deceiving her if he hadn't told her. Like he was pretending to be someone he wasn't. But apart from that, there was something about Rose that made him _want_ to tell her everything. Maybe it was her simple acceptance of his being an alien? Her eyes? They never looked scared, whatever he said. He always knew she would understand, that when he was close to breaking she would hold him together.

The Doctor pulled his ear thoughtfully. Maybe he still needed someone to do that.

He put his hand in his pocket and touched its sole occupant; a small, laminated photo of Rose. He didn't bring it out, however - he couldn't bear to see her face at that moment.

_I think I broke Rule Three too…_


	4. Chapter 4

**RULE FOUR**

_4) Don't dance in front of people. New body has not yet learnt how to._

_Hmmm…well…nothing like Glen Miller to leave you seething with jealousy of a certain ca- I mean, to teach you to dance._

_But it was horrible…Hearing Rose say "our song". It was awful._

_Then she was talking about Jack being like me - except with dating and dancing. Well it annoyed me. I didn't want her to think I couldn't…Anyway…_

_She actually asked me to. I didn't want to. I knew I'd look like an idiot. But it was her eyes…I just thought "why not?"_

_Then she looked right at me…and I couldn't think anything._

_Jack spoiled it. He couldn't have been a bit slower transporting us up, could he? No, he had to get us right at the moment I was starting to enjoy myself. Well, sort of. She was still thinking about Jack…_


	5. Chapter 5

**RULE FIVE**

_5) Never land on a Sunday._

"It's not _my_ fault the Olympics started on a Sunday!" the Doctor complained aloud. "I thought Rose would like it!"

I told you some would be ludicrously short. Review, if you can possibly think of anything to say. And don't worry, the next one is much longer.


	6. Chapter 6

**RULE SIX**

_6) Don't let the murderers control your actions._

He's standing in front of a screen. This creature on it has killed so many people. He wants nothing more than for it to die.

And then it tells him he would make a good dalek, and his anger is smothered instantly, to be replaced with a dreadful fear. He turns the screen off. He's vaguely aware of the stares of the two humans with him, but he ignores them. He wouldn't be a good dalek, he tells himself...he wouldn't.

"Seal the vault," he says. He helps them reroute the power. But Rose is still there. He talks to her, fighting to keep the emotion out of his voice, and manages to keep his words calm until the words "now, for God's sake, run." His fear comes out in these words, in just the smallest break in his voice. The humans with him don't realise how afraid he is for her.

And now a choice. "Doctor, I can't sustain the power. The whole system is failing. Doctor, we've got to close the bulkheads." Where is she? Will she make it? If he presses that button she'll be trapped down there with a murderous creature with no mercy - but if he doesn't, the creature will get out, and kill millions more.

When did this girl come to mean as much to him as millions of lives?

"I'm sorry," he says simply, and presses enter. He can see the little dot that is her moving along the corridor, is it fast enough, will she make it? _Run faster, Rose, run faster, _he urges her silently. All he can do is stare at the screen.

"The bulk is sealed."

He doesn't know if she's made it or not. Tension makes it impossible to sit down and he leaps up, fear in his eyes. "Rose, where are you? Did you make it?"

Her words break his heart. "Sorry, I was a bit slow." He can't think of anything. "It wasn't your fault, okay? Remember that, it wasn't your fault." _Oh, Rose, how can it not be my fault? I pressed the button. I trapped you. And now_..."And you know what? I wouldn't have missed it for the world." She's being so brave, but he can hear the tears in her voice. He's hardly breathing. Just standing there. It can't be true.

He hears the awful word: "Exterminate."

The creature kills her simply because she's there.

He can't bear to listen as the sound of the creature's gun fills his ears, his entire mind.

She's gone.

"I killed her."

"I'm sorry." That's van Statton. But what use are words when she's gone? He turns to van Statton, his heartbreak clearly on his face.

"I said I'd protect her. She was only here because of me, and you're sorry?" He can't cope with this guilt. "I could have killed that dalek in its cell, but you stopped me." It's his fault...

"It was the prize of my collection!" He doesn't want the guilt either. How can he not see that what he did was wrong?

"Your collection?! Well was it worth it? Worth all those men's deaths? Worth Rose?" That's what he really means. He's asking himself too. Was sealing it down there worth Rose's death?

Rose's death. Oh God, she's dead.

"But she wasn't dead," The Doctor reminded himself, the relief he had felt then when he realised she was not dead flooding over him again.

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:) please review!


	7. Chapter 7

_Ohhh, I like this one :D_

_I like this whole fic, actually. So glad I started writing it; I really enjoy it._

**RULE SEVEN**

_7) When a Fenling tells you to bow down, do it!_

This rule sparks two memories. The first was from when he was on his own, a few days after he had regenerated into his ninth body.

The familiar wheezing of the TARDIS engines filled the Doctor's ears as he stood at the controls. As he watched, the central column ground to a halt as he landed.

"Thank you, old girl," he murmured, patting the console as he turned towards the door. His long brown coat swished around his ankles as he walked, and he promptly decided that it didn't suit him _at all_ and threw it over one of the supports as he passed it. He'd get that leather one he'd spotted when he got back.

He exited the TARDIS in his blue polo shirt, deciding that didn't suit him either, and came to a halt on a floor of wood. Aha. This must be the planet of the Fenlings, Fen. They were the only species in the universe other than humans that used decking.

"You will bow down to us," came a high, nasal voice. It was a very irritating voice, but the Doctor had heard that as soon as you bowed down to them they shut up and left you alone. But if you didn't bow down, they locked you up…

The Doctor gave an elaborate bow, and by the time he straightened up the Fenlings had lost interest and turned away. They were used to getting visitors by this year, 2400, because humans liked to come and admire their incredible gardens. The Doctor wandered off towards one such garden, a small one with lots of flowers all around. It was rare on Fen in that it had a lawn, and the Doctor lay down on it to relax. Within 30 seconds, he was…not quite asleep, but it was as though some part of him had been switched off, though he was still aware of everything around him.

It wasn't until 2 hours later, when he had woken slowly and returned to the TARDIS, that he realised what the flowers in the garden had been: _Sleeping Vortex._ Humans were immune to it, but its blue or red flowers secreted a scent which sent Time Lords into a coma-like state - in other words, exactly what had happened to the Doctor.

* * *

The second memory was of just a few days before he had regenerated. Rose had asked to go to the Chelsea Flower Show (for the life of him he could not work out why) and he had decided to go one better.

The Doctor watched the Time Rotor slow and stop. Well, he was pretending to watch the Time Rotor, but it would be closer to the truth to say that he was watching Rose watch the Time Rotor. He didn't even realise this himself. Rose turned to him with a grin as they landed, and he smiled back.

"Are we at Chelsea Flower Show then?" Rose asked, before realising: "You're gonna make me go and see, aren't you?" He dipped his head in a single nod, and she ran out, him following close on her heels. She stopped at the door and turned to him. "You did it!"

"Actually, I decided to take us somewhere better. This is the planet Fen. The Fenlings have converted almost all of the planet into gardens, and rely on trade to keep going. But their gardens are very popular, so that's okay." The Doctor led Rose to the same garden he'd been to last time, remembering how much he'd liked it.

He didn't remember the _Sleeping Vortex._

Again, barely 30 seconds after he had entered the garden and the two had lay down close to each other, he was asleep.

The Doctor felt somebody lightly touch his arm.

"This is the most peaceful I've ever seen you," he heard Rose say softly, as though she didn't want to wake him. "It's nice." Her hand moved up and stroked his cheek. Had he still been in control of his body, he would have stopped breathing. As it was, he couldn't react.

An hour later, the Doctor slowly awoke. He opened his eyes and saw Rose sitting cross-legged on the other side on the small lawn, reading a book. She looked up as he sat up.

"Do you realise you've been asleep for an hour and a half?" Rose asked.

"You should have woken me up, not just left me there," the Doctor replied.

"You looked too peaceful. Where'd that come from anyhow?"

"It's this stuff," the Doctor explained, plucking a _Sleeping Vortex _from the flower bed and showing her. "It has a soporific effect on Time Lords. Humans aren't affected." As he spoke, a Fenling walked up to them.

"You will bow down to us," said that familiar high, nasal voice.

"We will not bow down to you," Rose said indignantly, before the Doctor had a chance to stop her. "We're not some pathetic little idiots, are we, Doctor?"

The Doctor stared at her for a second. "No," he said. He couldn't bow down now. Rose would think he was a "pathetic little idiot".

It was several hours before the Fenlings released them.

* * *


	8. Chapter 8

_8) If somebody starts crying, walk away and leave them to it._

The Doctor thought back to that time he had been in the TARDIS, walking back to the console room from a rare bathroom break. It had been in his tenth body.

_The Doctor passes Rose's room and sees Rose, curled into the fetal position on her bed with her back to the door. He can hear her sobbing her heart out. He feels like his stomach has dropped suddenly to the floor, and hovers by the door, wondering whether to go in or not._

"_Rose…?" he calls softly. She ignores him. "Rose?" he says again, entering the room. He stops next to her bed and watches her back helplessly for a few minutes. In the end he asks, "What's the matter?"_

_She sniffs a few times and turns over, leaning weakly against her pillows. "Doesn't matter," she says in a choked voice. The tears are still running down her face. The Doctor's heart melts in pity._

"_Oh, Rose," he begins, "of course it matters. If it's making you cry like this, of course it matters." He kneels next to her on the bed, facing her. His knees are right next to her head, so he is close enough to reach forward and push her hair behind her ear. "Tell me what the matter is," he implores quietly._

"_It's just I…I miss…well, you. I mean…old you…you know…I mean, I love being with you now of course, and you're still the same person, but I still miss other you. It's still like you've…he's…gone away forever."_

"_Oh Rose," he says with a sigh. He turns to lean against her pillows next to her, and puts an arm around her back to pull her to him. She turns so that one of his hands is cradling her head against his chest and the other is on her waist, holding her close. Her own arms are one around him and the other bending to hold his upper arm. He can feel her tears soaking through his suit, and feels guilty because it was him who caused her this distress. He strokes her hair with the hand on her head._

"_I'm sorry," he murmurs. "I realise how much you miss…him. _I_ miss him sometimes!" He hears a small laugh at that, and knows it is working. "If I could go back, I would, just for you, but I-"_

"_I don't want you to go back!" Rose says, sitting up to look at his face. "I like you as you are, I just miss…you sometimes." This conversation is messing with her head. She's saying she misses someone who is right in front of her…_

_A small smile spreads across the Doctor's face. "I'm still the same man. He may be gone, but he's still in here somewhere."_

"_I know. And I'll always remember him…you…whatever…" Her face is screwed up in confusion. The Doctor laughs, and after a second she joins in, and the Doctor gives her a tissue to wipe away her tears._

_Why didn't I walk away then?_ the Doctor asked himself. He had been about to. He got so close. But then something made him go inside - and break Rule Eight.

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There were originally going to be 10 rules, but if anybody has any other suggestions I would love to hear them, and will try and write all of them! Thank you xx Please review.


	9. Chapter 9

_Sorry about the delay! I forgot about this fic! To make up for it, I shall get on with writing my Torchwood fic : )_

_I should specify now that this is set after Doomsday but before Turn Left etc._

**RULE NINE**

_9) As soon as the fun's over, move on._

Now THAT was a rule he'd kept! Wait - what about that time with Rose…? He could remember, just after his regeneration, he had fought the Sycorax and sent them home (losing a hand in the process. And he liked his hand. He needed his hand. He was very attached to his hand). Then Harriet Jones had interfered and blasted them out of the air. There had been no need for that! They were leaving!

Anyway.

After all of that, he had planned just to find his new outfit, return to Rose's flat to pick her up, then off they would go, off into the universe, anywhere they wanted.

But together. If she would come. The thought that she might not want to scared him more than he liked to admit - even to himself. He had said goodbye so many times; why was even the thought of this one so much worse than the reality of all of the others combined?

Tearing his thoughts away from this, the Doctor looked back at his list to remind himself what he had been thinking about.

Ah, yes.

So, he had planned just to take off, but she had smiled that gorgeous smile, coupling it with puppy-dog eyes, and all his resolve had melted away. It was all he could do to nod, trying not to let the goofy grin on his face grow too wide, as he agreed to stay for dinner with her family and Mickey.

And actually, it was quite fun.

They cranked up the cheesy Christmas carols on the stereo, and sat down together to eat Christmas dinner. It was slightly unnerving, to be doing something so normal, and it made him miss his own family even more.

He pulled a cracker with Rose, grinning as the loud "CRACK!" surprised her. He won, but he already had a hat so he gave it to Rose, leaning his elbows on the table to gaze at her.

"Pink, lovely!" he said cheerfully as she opened it.

"It should be yours!" Rose told her mum. Infected by the cheer at the table, the Doctor turned his grin to Jackie, then looked back at Rose and watched her putting on the pink hat. His eyes were shining as his grin softened to a slightly crooked smile.

"Look, it's Harriet Jones!" Rose announced, pointing at the previously forgotten TV. The Doctor turned to look, his smile fading as the joyful mood evaporated into a rather more serious one.

Hmm…first opportunity for brainy specs!

The Doctor pulled them out of his pocket to watch the report.

"Look at me, I'm fine, I look fine, I _feel fine._"

The Doctor couldn't help but feel a glow of satisfaction somewhere deep inside, but he squashed it. Nothing good ever came out of satisfaction at causing somebody's downfall.

"It's Bev," Jackie said, entering the room. "She says go and look outside."

He had wanted to take Rose's hand as they descended the stairs, but he felt that she should take his first. She had to fully accept him and his new form.

The four of them walked out into the street together, to see small white flakes falling to the ground. The Doctor automatically worked out the temperature. It wasn't cold enough for snow, he realised. He looked up and worked out the distance and direction that the Sycorax ship had been in. Seeing the lights flash across the sky merely confirmed his diagnosis.

"It's the spaceship, breaking up in the atmosphere. He pretended not to notice Rose edging closer to him as he continued, "This isn't snow, it's ash."

"Okay, not so beautiful," Rose said.

_Not so beautiful as you._ He was glad that she agreed that Harriet's action was wrong.

"And this is a brand-new planet Earth." He wasn't sure if he was talking more to stave off the moment when he would have to ask if Rose wanted to come with him, or to give himself an opening in which he could. "No denying the existence of aliens now, everyone saw it." An idea struck him. "Everything's _new_." _Including me, do you still want to come? Please say you'll come, my darling, darling Rose._

"And what about you? What are you gonna do next?" _Rose, I was about to ask. _He'd have to start again now. That girl was too perceptive for her own good. Or maybe she was trying to tell him she didn't want to come…

"Well…Back to the TARDIS, same old life." His brain was working overtime, trying to find how to ask her.

Rassilon, she looked nervous. Was she really going to stay behind? He wanted so much to kiss her right then, but it wouldn't be right. If she was leaving him, he had no right to reveal his feelings.

"On your own?" _Please, no._

"Why, don't you wanna come?" He kept his tone light, hiding the fear deep. It came out in his eyes, though.

"Well, yeah." _But?_

"Do you, though?"

"Yeah!"

He fought not to throw his arms around her and squeeze her tight. The relief was incredible, sending a great amount of dizzying hormones to his superior brain.

"Well, I just thought…cuz I'd changed…" He couldn't meet her eyes as she said this and looked somewhere ahead of him. He was oblivious to the gazes of Jackie and Mickey behind them.

"Yeah, I thought, cuz you'd changed, you might not want me any more." _Oh, dear, sweet Rose, how could you even think that?_

"Oh, I'd love you to come," he replied, his desperation for her to understand and his relief clear in his voice. His love for her shone in his eyes.

"Okay," she said, with a slightly giddy laugh - or was he imagining that? They stood in the "snow", and grinned at each other. All was right again.


	10. Chapter 10

_Sorry again for the delay! I shall start writing my Torchwood fic now, then I will finish my Pellinor collab chapter, then I will continue with Family._

_And please please please review! If you do, you will receive a cookie in the shape of the Doctor and Rose kissing ; ) _

**RULE TEN**

The Doctor suddenly realised something. So far he had read 9 rules. He had broken 9 rules.

And Rose had made him do it every time. He couldn't help it, whatever she did was intoxicating and he forgot everything except her.

Forcing himself to focus, he read the last rule.

_10) Don't let anyone become everything to you._

A single tear rolled down the Doctor's cheek.


End file.
